Ghosts of Voltariis 6 Pt. 02

Araa brought her knees to her shoulders and allowed Brecht a steeper angle – he was delirious and sweat ran down his back as he drove his cock deep into Araa's artificial pussy. He felt desperation as though each thrust into his android lover was his last opportunity of connecting with Deirdre. Z'eth'I caressed Araa's hair and pressed her forehead to the android's and they watched together Brecht as his muscles flexed and his skin glistened. Araa moaned and felt every particle of her being shudder as waves of pleasure sprang from her pussy and she came, the walls of her sex pulsating against Brecht's ever thrusting cock.

Araa released him but his cock, coated in her pussy juices, was still rigid and Brecht's eyes were frantic – Z'eth'I rested on her side and raised her curvaceous thigh, exposing her pussy to the fuck drunk man. As she faced Araa, Brecht straddled her thigh and he entered the Vik'sh. Brecht held Z'eth'I leg against his chest and let this thighs move of their own accord and his cock filled every inch of her cunt. Z'eth'I was rocked as much by Brecht's relentless rhythm as by the pleasure he procured her. Brecht was in a trance, his only thought achieving the freedom from the mounting pressure in his loins. His thoughts lingered on a carousel of images of Deirdre, Araa, and Z'eth'I as they replaced one another in the fog of his memories of cherished moments of lust and love. It was then that Brecht exploded – a gusher of come filled Z'eth'I's pussy and the Vik'sh felt her sense of self become a blank slate as her pleasure became hers alone. Brecht embraced the emptiness his orgasm brought him, the bliss temporarily washing away any memory he might have of being trapped 900 light years from Earth on a strange world with the universe's irony, reminding him of his loss.

Unknown to them, the Jubilation of the Vik'sh had ceased and all re-tuned individuals turned towards the crash site and closed their eyes and mourned the curse of individuality.

VI

A week had passed since the first Jubilation shared by Brecht, Araa and Z'eth'I. Brecht ate from the supplies scavenged from the life pod – sometimes he would join Araa as she stood watch and cleaned her weapon. Brecht was surprised to see Z'eth'I walk into the forest beyond the edge of the crash site one morning as one of the three moons rose opposite Sedna Voltariis to illuminate the morning. He decided to pursue her into the forest when he noticed the edge of the other moons graze the limits of the horizon – Brecht began to think about the orbits of the moons when the symbiont a.i., his constant companion, projected the proximity sphere to its maximum range of 500 metres. He quickly located Z'eth'I and without even thinking it, the enhanced muscles in his legs calibrated their impulse and he launched himself into the canopy of the tropical like forest and within seconds, bounding stealthily from one branch to the next, he was observing Z'eth'I from a perch high in the trees.

Z'eth'I was kneeling by a pool of water – as confirmed by a spectral analysis by the symbiont a.i. -- and reached into the pool and gingerly pulled a creature from the shallow depth. The animal offered no resistance when Z'eth'I opened her mouth and swallowed it whole and alive. Her throat bulged slightly as it accommodated the creature's descent into digestion. Brecht continued to observe her as she reached up and a branch from a nearby tree bent and she picked a bulbous growth that released a sweet scent.

Brecht sat back against his perch and pondered how the world was apparently bending to Z'eth'I's wishes. It also cemented his belief that this world should not be. When Z'eth'I finished eating the bulbous growth, the tree Brecht was perched in vibrated at a low frequency and was soon joined by the other trees. Brecht stood and looked to the sky – another moon was halfway over the horizon as Sedna Voltariis was beginning to drop in the sky. The implication was that the planet's revolution had increased. He looked down and saw that Z'eth'I was also looking towards the sky and her face was awash in concern, her lips turning downward the way Deirdre's did when she was worried that Brecht worked too much. As Z'eth'I turned from the pool and bolted from the forest, Brecht felt his enhanced muscles spool just before he lept from one tree to the next, easily passing the running Vik'sh and bursting from the forest.

Araa was standing on an outcropping of rock and watched as Brecht burst from the forest canopy and sprinted to join her on the rock. She was momentarily taken aback by the speed and ease with which he navigated the rough terrain between the forest and her position. Araa understood that the monomolecular machine she had delivered him to was working at his behest. Z'eth'I emerged from the forest a few seconds later but lagged behind Brecht.

When Brecht had reached her, he noticed her Kriss super V was loaded and a round was chambered and the safety was off. Araa was looking to the horizon where Sedna Voltariis was setting. Brecht cast a glance in the opposite direction and saw that the three moons were visible. Z'eth'I finally joined him and they looked on the horizon. Brecht's eyes magnified the image he was seeing: thousands of Vik'sh, youth and elder alike, were steadily marching towards Sedna Voltariis 6's equator.

"Sedna's stopped setting, Lands," Araa said as she touched his shoulder.

"The planet's rotation's ceased," Brecht explained. "The moons are opposite the star – gravitational forces are in a fragile balance."

"The tidal forces ..." Araa whispered.

"Yeah. You might see half the ocean pulled towards the moons while the other half towards the sun."

Z'eth'I was pensive as her strange bedfellows discussed in terms she did not comprehend.

"The sister guardians of the night face the mother of the day," Z'eth'I explained as she traced on the rock a diagram representing the members of this cosmic choreography. She placed Sedna Voltariis on one side and the moons on the other – she then drew a line down the meridian direction, intersecting the poles.

"The time of the Passing has come," Z'eth'I said, a tear running down her scarlet cheek.

@@@@@

It was as Z'eth'I had foretold -- a vast chasm over 2 kilometres wide was carved down the middle of the great planetary sea, pools of water gathering in the exposed trenches. The awesome tidal forces of Sedna Voltariis and the moons aligned opposite the red giant had split the waters and hundreds of Vik'sh stood on the edge of newly created beaches. The sky of Sedna Voltariis six was awash in gradient shades of blue and red and green as the muted light of Sedna Voltariis was filtered by the oxygen rich atmosphere and was reflected off the opposing moons and refracted by the atmosphere

Brecht and Araa had followed Z'eth'I's lead as they surveyed files of migrating Vik'sh approaching the vast chasm. Z'eth'I brought them to a peak that oversaw the Vik'sh gathering ground. The trio had travelled lightly – Araa carried her Kriss Super V with two extra clips while Brecht carried a sling with some food and water and the three power cells for the particle beam rifle slung over his other shoulder. Brecht focused his enhanced vision on the various groups that crossed into the sea and emerged from the walls of water. Brecht was amazed that no sea creatures seemed to have been caught by the separating waters – life teemed in the seas yet did not cross into the barren chasm. The ground trembled as the planet wobbled on its axis as gravity played a tug-o-war with its mantle.

Despite the tectonic havoc, the Vik'sh continued their pilgrimage to the space between the temporary seas. "You can't be down there, can you?" Araa asked as she flicked the safety on her gun from safe to full-auto.

Z'eth'I began tapping her fingers against the rock and Araa mirrored her action. "I'm not like them anymore," Z'eth'I whispered.

Brecht understood the heartbreak in Z'eth'I's voice. "I don't think any one of us is going home," he answered.

The word home conjured Araa's memories – evenings spent sitting on top of a science building at the Geneva University, watching the sunset. Making love on that same roof as the moon rose. These were her memories now – 3 years of life spent with Landers Brecht and she remembered it all. Deirdre was there, but the merge with Araa was complete. She wondered if Brecht felt it.

But Brecht was in a fully scientific mind frame as he observed the Vik'sh. They were assembling in two long files. Brecht was noting every movement – female and male elders stood in front of androgynous youths, and they began to disrobe. The youths removed the leather bindings that wrapped around their wrists and ankles while the elders removed the loincloths and undid the leather twists that bound their hair. Every individual tossed leather accoutrements aside as the red of their flesh glowed under the light reflecting off the sides of the newborn, water walled valley. Brecht held his breath as the Vik'sh fell to their knees on the exposed, cracked sea bottom. Each individual stretched out their arms and their fingers laced – the youths then advanced, their knees scrapping against stone yet no flesh was shed from the abrasions.

Z'eth'I startled Araa by floating to her feet and spreading her arms – Z'eth'I opened her mouth and a powerful chant grew steadily from her belly until it filled the atmosphere with a thunderous vibration that caused the walls of water bordering the chasm below their perch to ripple. The mob in the answered her chant by allowing their hands to roam and explore the confines of each other's bodies. Brecht was mesmerized by the delicate dance the Vik'sh partook in – he watched as the youth embraced their elders whit finger and lip. Couples and trios and foursomes formed as the air filled with the same fragrance that anointed the nightly Jubilation.

Araa let her hand rest on the butt of her Super V while the other caressed the three other 30-round clips she had strapped to her curvy hips. Her memories of Deirdre's missions had taught her the importance of having enough ammunition when events spiralled out of control. Araa understood there was absolutely no control to be had since she and Brecht escaped the station and she had been infused with Deirdre's engrams. She glanced longingly at Brecht as he was immersed in his curiosity – Z'eth'I continued her chant.

The symbiont a.i. in Brecht's brain was mapping the electrical impulses triggered by his optic nerve in an effort to build and algorithm that would allow its embedded sensors to actually sense the Vik'sh beyond simply measuring Brecht's reactions to them. Brecht employed optical magnification to observe the scene of the Vik'sh engaging in a planet wide orgy – as they frolicked on the exposed, jagged, rocky sea bottom, many youths appeared to shed loose tatters of scarlet skin and gender specific identifiers emerged. Within minutes of the beginning of Z'eth'I's chant, the water crested valley was full of newly awakened Vik'sh elders engaged with their more experienced counterparts. A chorus of cocks entering mouths and filling pussies and penetrating asses harmonized with Z'eth'I's chant – Brecht felt an odd tingle and a display popped up in the lower left side edge of his vision. He turned to it and the display overlapped what he optically saw. A graph accompanied the display and he read an increase in electromagnetic fields interacting with the planet's naturally occurring magnetic field. The spike was centred where the Vik'sh were fucking. Another graph was generated and showed a spike in anti-neutron emissions some 200 meters from the edge of the file of fornicating Vik'sh.

The symbiont a.i. was still receiving a feed from 2 orbiting satellites that accompanied the destitute station Brecht and Araa once called home. The satellites detected a significant spike in gravimetric shifts in Sedna Voltariis 6's gravity well and transmitted their measurements to the symbiont a.i.

Brecht felt a tug in his mind and tore his eyes from the spectacle of the Vik'sh and saw a proximity sphere pop up – it had a range of over 2 light seconds and displayed an incoming gravitational disturbance.

Brecht looked to the sky.

@@@@@

Within that sea of tumultuous stellar mayhem that was the corona of Sedna Voltariis, a flattened structure of dark matter orbited, its occasional gravimetric impulses holding its position steady. But the spikes in anti-neutrons had triggered the vessel's passive sensors and its core, the Intelligence, after billions of years of passivity, roared to life. The centre of the structure bulged until a flattened pyramid was formed and another was formed opposite it. The two free-floating triangles were connected by a circular temple. Arcs of colourful energy erupted from the two halves of the ebony structure until a web of crackling plasma filled the gap within its hull. A fountain of light shot out from the centre of both sides of the vessel – the nuclear plasma that engulfed the vessel warped as the vessel accelerated towards the projected gravitational singularity the it used to follow a vector away from Sedna Voltariis. As the vessel broke from the surface of the red giant, it carried with it a plume of stellar mass over a 100,000 kilometres long.

The vessel banked a sharp turn as the Intelligence plotted a course to intercept Voltariis 6 – the projected singularity pulled the vessel on its course while the Intelligence calibrated a variant field of gravimetric waves to buffer the massive tidal forces of the red giant. Within the gravity well of the star, the vessel achieved relativistic speeds.

Nearing Voltariis 6, the spike in anti-neutrons heralded a rift in the branes between potential universes. It was odd that the spikes happened at the surface level of the sixth planet. The Intelligence entered the atmosphere of Sedna Voltariis 6 and headed towards the newly formed canyon.

VII

The satellites Brecht had installed in orbit over Voltariis 6 had some of the most sensitive instruments ever developed and they were feeding Brecht and the symbiont a.i. with tracking information about the incoming object that had just entered the atmosphere. The a.i used the satellite feeds to populate the proximity sphere that monitored a partial portion of the planet and its local space.

Brecht focused on a dark grey cloud formation that was approaching from the east. Araa joined his gaze and as she focused her vision, she could make out a shape in the cloud.

"You see it, don't you?" Brecht asked as he unslung the PB rifle from his shoulder and he checked the charge of its power cell and he switched it on. The weapon hummed and a bar showing the charge status glowed to life.

'Yes," Araa answered. She observed him and was struck by the stern countenance of his gaze. From Deirdre she felt Brecht had always hidden a warrior soul behind a veneer of intellectual pursuit more befitting a civilized man. Deirdre had witnessed his combativeness in debates where he would manoeuvre his adversaries like a predator. "You don't think it's one of ours?"

"We don't fly around in giant triangles," Brecht remarked. Upon those words, the cloud cover over the unknown vessel dissipated and the dark, crystalline craft slipped silently over the landscape of Sedna Voltariis 6 until it covered the gravity-forged valley with its night-like shadow.

Brecht and Araa had already flattened against the rock and Araa grabbed an entranced Z'eth'I and she roughly yanked her down to their level. Z'eth'I choked on her chant when she hit the stone and glared angrily at Araa till she noticed the vast shadow that covered the valley where her brethren were loving. The vessel was vast, and Brecht was awestruck as the mulch-level analysis the symbiont a.i. was completing – it was unable to definitely decipher the vessel's structure beyond the fact that it interacted with regular and quantum gravity. Brecht could only believe the vessel was forged from dark matter.

Araa was sharing the findings from symbiont a.i. while Z'eth'I looked up at the ship with awe and fear. She remembered legends gleamed from the elders about the heart of the Day Mother always watching over the children of the dreams.

It was then that Brecht felt something push into his mind – the symbiont a.i. was attempting to open a VPN with the vessel but the encryption the vessel used was complex beyond measure. The resulting interaction gave Brecht a debilitating headache – the resulting pain had two effects: it cleared Brecht's mind and focused his attention and triggered his anger at this invasion. The emotion overrode the symbiont a.i. and the mono-molecular armour was activated. But in so doing, the VPN with the vessel was completed and Landers Brecht exploded as a conscious singularity.

The Intelligence received the link and was slightly routed when it encountered the chaotic complexity of a living mind – Landers Brecht stood before the Intelligence, his avatar a shining spectre before the pure, formless fountain of light that was the Intelligence's avatar.

Around them swirled images of the warship's history as it sought out the seed ships from its dying world; virtual murals described its creation at the centre of an artificial star where the massive gravitational pressures could mould and forge the vessel's dark matter architecture; the star that was the forge was collapsed as an influx of extra-dimensional matter was injected in it's core – the nascent singularity became the vessel's energy source, feeding power from the chaos between branes into the vessel's systems; Brecht saw experienced hands insert layers of quantum computing waves around the singularity, giving rise to the Intelligence. It had served as a warship for beings known as Providers. But after their home star had collapsed and the unfinished Reliquary ships had escaped into the vast abyss of intergalactic space to seed the universe with the memories and experiences of the Providers, the warship had found itself alone. It sought out signs and trails of where the Reliquaries were destined – it had located a herd of quantum wraiths gazing at their non-existence in hyperspace and the warship's Intelligence suspected they had been attracted by the consciousness found on a Reliquary. But the system the warship visited was devoid of any trace of the Providers. So it had decided to wait – it appreciated the ephemeral nature of the Red Super Giant so it made the star's corona its temporary mausoleum.

The vessel laid dormant until the arrival of the mysterious world that should not exist. Passive sensors noted the planet, measuring mass and composition but no danger was perceived so the Intelligence slumbered. However, the local arrival of a hyperspace singularity had revived the vessel's passive sensors while the anti-neutron signature of an inter-dimensional rift had launched the vessel to investigate the planet.

From Brecht, the Intelligence was presented the great emotional singularities that marked the life of a human: birth, where natural light strikes the retina an truly awakens the cognitive centres of the brain; the second awakening of self when love is found for the first time; the crossroads faced after the death of a loved one – when Deirdre had died, Brecht had sought solitude and solace on the edge of known space. It also perceived his desire to understand why she was returned to him as a simulacrum and his anguish and rage at the Starcane Foundation and the hand they might have had in her death. This realization prompted Brecht to reign in the monomolecular armour and reset its safe mode. Exotic alloy and carbon nano-tubes sank back into his flesh and Brecht was a naked human once more. Exposed this way, Brecht felt the Intelligence's great eyes peer deeply beyond flesh and into the chemical bonds holding his DNA together. It was there that the Intelligence felt a tinge of recognition – inceptualized fragments of potential hidden deep within the double helix of human DNA.